You're overclockers, right? You can help me!

Mr Alpha · Jul 15, 2006

I bought a system last summer which, then at least, was pretty decent. But things have changed *cough* Oblivion *cough* and I felt like it wasn't really cutting it anymore. Without the money to upgrade I thought to do a poor man's upgrade and try out this overclocking thing.

So over to the good part. The system I have: A Athlon X2 4400+ CPU, a Corsair TwinX2048-3500LLPRO 2GB kit, and an ASUS A8N-SLI Deluxe mobo. I dug up a Quick and Dirty A64 Overclocking Guide and got to it. Everything was fine until I hit a weird wall. I can't raise the FSB/HTT above 240. At 240 everything is rock-solid stable, but bumping it up to 241 I can't pass 5 min Prime95.

fireandice · Jul 15, 2006

it could be the psu. i had a simular problem then my psu let out the magical smoke that makes electrons work.

Zx2Slow · Jul 15, 2006

Coulf be the memory you have PC3500 the low latency version, loosen your timings.

johan851 · Jul 15, 2006

Now why did you have all that nice stuff when you weren't planning to overclock? That's just beyond me.

The most overclocking gains for something like Oblivion will be from overclocking your video card. What video card do you have?

Mr Alpha · Jul 15, 2006

The PSU I have is an 600W Enermax Noisetaker. I don't think it is the problem.

I can't get to even 240 HTT without using a memory divider. I'm using the 333MHz divider as it is. The memory tops at ~230 even with loose timings.

The video card is a Gigabyte GeForce 7800GTX. I did a wee bit of overclocking of it with the help of the Coolbits reg edit. I let it "detect optimal frequencies" and figured I'd dig deeper into overclocking it after I was finished with the CPU overclocking. It sits at 473/1286 at the moment.

synthetic_fenix · Jul 15, 2006

How are you not able to play oblivion with that setup?

Rattle · Jul 15, 2006

your not going to do anything by overclocking your video card unless you get your 4400 clocked up, dual core or not a 4400 at 2.2 will bottleneck a 7800gtx until about 2.5-2.6...

The_Jizzler · Jul 15, 2006

Mr Alpha said:
I can't get to even 240 HTT without using a memory divider. I'm using the 333MHz divider as it is. The memory tops at ~230 even with loose timings.

well, your memory is only rated for 217 (3500) so it sounds ok. dividers are just fine to use w/A64 so dont sweat it.

lucas81 · Jul 15, 2006

What is the version of the bios you are running? maybe a update of your bios could help.

johan851 · Jul 15, 2006

your not going to do anything by overclocking your video card unless you get your 4400 clocked up, dual core or not a 4400 at 2.2 will bottleneck a 7800gtx until about 2.5-2.6...

Depends on the effects and settings, but yes, you have a point.

Have you tried a few tweaks to the .ini file? That fixed some performance issues with the game for me. There's a dual core setting in there somewhere, I believe.

Mr Alpha · Jul 16, 2006

synthetic_fenix said:
How are you not able to play oblivion with that setup?

Sure, I can play Oblivion, but I cannot Play Oblivion.

Rattle said:
your not going to do anything by overclocking your video card unless you get your 4400 clocked up, dual core or not a 4400 at 2.2 will bottleneck a 7800gtx until about 2.5-2.6...

The same toughts did cross my mind, which is why I started with the CPU overclocking.

The_Jizzler said:
dividers are just fine to use w/A64 so dont sweat it.

Good to know. But I am still hitting the 240 HTT wall :bang head

even with dividers.

lucas81 said:
What is the version of the bios you are running? maybe a update of your bios could help.

BIOS revision 1016.

johan851 said:
Have you tried a few tweaks to the .ini file? That fixed some performance issues with the game for me. There's a dual core setting in there somewhere, I believe.

Yes, I found a whole bunch at a tweak site. Didn't really help any, and as far as I could tell the dual-core tweak had no effect.

The_Jizzler · Jul 16, 2006

it may sound weird, but have you tried going beyond 240? like say 255 or something? works sometimes for "brick walls". some boards just dont like a certain limited range. not familiar with yours tho. also, whats your LDT multi at?

QuietIce · Jul 17, 2006

You're at 2640 now - have you changed the Vcore ...?

ziggo0 · Jul 17, 2006

QuietIce said:
You're at 2640 now - have you changed the Vcore ...?

To the vcore setting batman!

Mr Alpha · Jul 18, 2006

Jumping to 255 HTT did work, but only after I lowered the CPU multiplier to 10.5, otherwise it wouldn't boot into windows. The LDT multi is at 4x. I've put my vcore at max, which is as much as 1.45 I believe, but CPU-Z is showing everything from 1.388 to 1.530.

QuietIce · Jul 18, 2006

Mr Alpha said:
I've put my vcore at max, which is as much as 1.45 I believe, but CPU-Z is showing everything from 1.388 to 1.530.

That's a LOT of variation and may be your problem. Mine doesn't change more than ~0.04v - it drops ~0.02v per instance of Prime95. Otherwise, it wavers maybe 0.005v up and down ...

Mr Alpha · Jul 20, 2006

Seems I spoke too soon. My 255x10.5 was over night Prime95 stable, several loops of 3DMark06 stable, and everything seem Ok. I just got Prey, and it crashed within 10 min and wouldn't boot into windows until I backed down to 240x11.

EDIT: How accurate are those software voltage readings anyways?

QuietIce · Jul 20, 2006

Mr Alpha said:
Seems I spoke too soon. My 255x10.5 was over night Prime95 stable, several loops of 3DMark06 stable, and everything seem Ok. I just got Prey, and it crashed within 10 min and wouldn't boot into windows until I backed down to 240x11.

EDIT: How accurate are those software voltage readings anyways?

10.5 is a bad multiplier anyway and running a fast FSB doesn't help if everything else is turned down to make up for it. Have you tried 243-4 MHz x11? If you managed Prime95 and 3DMark then it shouldn't have crashed. *scratches head*

What are your RAM timings? My 3500LL managed 230-251 MHz with 2.5-3-2-6-1T, beyond that I needed to loosen it to 3-3-2-6. The stock settings (2-3-2-6) will only get me to 229 MHz ...

Mr Alpha · Aug 23, 2006

Hi, i'm back. Sorry to drop out on you guys like that, but my doctor informed me I had a tumour in my left side, which caused quite a circus. It was benign and is removed now and I'm starting to feel like myself again.

Getting back to the matter at hand, overclocking. The problem with 243-244 is that the machine won't even boot into windows at those HTT speed, even with a lowered multiplier. To get over that wall I have to go all the way up to 255 HTT. What makes 10.5 a bad multiplier? Should I back down to 10 and ramp the HTT up higher?

With the RAM I hit a wall at 229, even with looser timings.

QuietIce · Aug 23, 2006

After re-reading this thread it seems to me you may have a bad PSU. Those vCore readings shouldn't be jumping all over the place like that.

Also, does the A8N allow you to adjust the vDimm? I can't believe that RAM won't run over 230.

You should at least try 265x10 but be sure to set your HTT down to 3x ...

You're overclockers, right? You can help me!

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